Our laughter rang out through the empty classroom. We were alone with Miss Campbell, Jamal and I, thirty minutes after everyone else had left for the buses and their rides home. It was something we had been doing once or twice a week; she was always eager to stay late, to help one or the other of us with a problem we might have, or a question about that day's lesson. Miss Campbell was just that kind of a teacher. She genuinely cared about her students. It didn't hurt that she was gorgeous; a super-vivacious twenty-four-year-old with lush black hair that cascaded over her shoulders when down. During classes she kept it tied back, but we usually could persuade her to let it down once school was over for the day.
Our question-and-answer sessions usually didn't take long, then we would joke around with her for a few minutes, go home and, inevitably, fantasize about her. Jamal was just as enthralled with her as I was. Today we had gotten into "knock-knock" jokes, some of which were a little dirty. She knew she had to draw the line.
"You guys better watch it," she warned, after her laughter had diminished into a chuckle. "I'm not supposed to encourage you to talk like that."
Jamal had put his jacket on, ready to leave soon, but now he slipped it back off, eager to pursue this. "Heck, these ain't nuthin'," he laughed. "I got some you wouldn't even tell a gang member!" He smiled at his own joke, and absently reached inside his shirt to pull out the crystal necklace he had taken from his grandmother's jewelry box. He planned on giving it to a girl he liked. Miss Campbell's eyes focused on the luminous jewel immediately.
"Oh my gosh, Jamal," she said, reaching for it, "where did you find that? It's beautiful!"
Jamal held it out, and I watched Miss Campbell's eyes as it swung back and forth. She didn't touch it, but held her hand just away from it, watching it intently. "You like it, huh? I'm gonna give it to Shondra," he boasted.
"It's...entrancing..." she breathed, her eyes glued to the slow arcs the crystal was making. Then she seemed to collect herself, and suddenly looked up at the clock on the wall. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed, "I've got to get going. I have all your tests to grade tonight!"
"Mine shouldn't take long," I quipped, "just mark an "A" and go on to the rest of the idiots."
She laughed again, glancing at Jamal's crystal a couple of times. "Well, I'll have to give you this, Billy. You're certainly..."
Jamal was still holding the crystal out, also entranced by its refracted light.
"What?" I asked.
She suddenly turned to me. "What...what?" she asked, laughing again. I loved the sound of her laughter. It was so sensual, in its own way.
"You said I'm certainly...something?"
"OH!" she suddenly said. "What I meant was, you're...confident" She laughed again at her own lack of focus, as Jamal slipped the necklace back inside his shirt.
She was watching his every move, I noticed.
*****************
As we walked away from the classroom, I said to Jamal, "My god! Did you see that? Miss Campbell was staring at that pendant like some kind of zombie!"
He turned to me. "Yeah, I noticed that," he confirmed. "That's why I didn't put it away right off. She seemed sort of...hypnotized by it."
"Shit! That's it!" I exclaimed.
"What?"
I stopped, and grabbed his arm to make him stop with me. "She was like, THIS close to being hypnotized, man!" I held up two fingers, not a quarter inch apart.
Sudden awareness dawned on Jamal's face. "Damn, you think so?" he asked. "Oh my god, that gives me so many ideas," he laughed.
"Exactly my thoughts," I said. "Can you imagine what we might get her to do if we could hypnotize her?" I pumped one fist in the air. "Dude, this is epic!"
We began to walk again, and a plan was hatched. We only needed the opportunity to put it into action.
Friday afternoon came, and I looked at Jamal as the bell rang. He nodded, and then looked up at Miss Campbell as the other students began to file out of class, laughing with each other and glad that school was over for the week. He hadn't given the pendant to Shondra. In fact, he was having misgivings about giving his grandmother's necklace away at all.
Miss Campbell had her back to us, her lovely round ass swaying provocatively as she erased everything on the board. The fact that she had worn a barely-approved short tan skirt and high heels had not escaped either Jamal's, or my own, notice. She wore a knit, sleeveless black top, as well. It displayed the sides of her nice little breasts to full advantage, encased as they were in what looked like a lacy black bra. I wondered, for like the thousandth time, how they would feel if I could wrap my hands around them.
We slowly picked up our books and jackets, and were just approaching the front of the class as Miss Campbell finished with the board, and turned around to gather up her own belongings.
"So, got a date tonight, Miss Campbell?" Jamal asked.
The question seemed to catch her by surprise. Her voice faltered a little as she said, "Well, yes, actually. My boyfriend is taking me to dinner at Arthur's." She smiled at the two of us and asked, "Why?"
Jamal had taken the crystal out again, and was holding it by its chain in front of his chest, letting it swing. "Oh, I just noticed how nice you looked today," he said. "Like, some lucky guy is gonna have the prettiest lady in the room with him."
She smiled broadly at the compliment, and thanked him. Then her eyes locked on his crystal necklace, and it was obvious to both of us that she had a hard time pulling her gaze from it. She did, at last, and glanced at me, as if coming up for air from beneath water.
"I really like that top," I added, nodding at her clothing. I saw the blush come into her face, and wondered why. We didn't normally bring color to her cheeks, but she was blushing furiously, now. Her eyes darted back to Jamal's crystal, still swinging.
"I...uh, OH!" she said suddenly. "Thank you, Billy. I'm...I'm glad you like it." She blushed even harder. "I'm going to grade papers in my car, and then go straight to Arthur's to meet Danny."
I wondered what she was thinking about as her eyes came to rest once again on the crystal. Jamal had taken it off his neck now, and held it out between them. "I bet this would look good with that outfit," he said softly, letting it swing six inches from her eyes. She was absolutely locked onto it!
"Miss Campbell?" I whispered softly, "isn't that beautiful?"
She hadn't even blinked, but she sighed under her breath. "It is..." she breathed.
I took the opportunity to further our seeming success. "Don't you want to just look at it all the time?" I asked quietly, not waiting for a reply. "You can, you know. Do you want Jamal to just hold it for you, so you can look at it?"
This time her answer came in the form of a long blink. She was under, just like that!